In every jury trial, the jurors are the "finders of the facts" -- the sole judges of the facts.
That means that the jurors decide the case by hearing the witnesses, evaluating their truthfulness, and deciding the weight to be given to the testimony of each.
But occasionally, after hearing the evidence, the jury comes away with the impression that all the witnesses on both sides are telling half-truths, if not outright lies. How does a jury render a true verdict when every witness is either lying or telling half-truths?
In the realm of American politics, the voters are the judges of the facts. So how do the voters find the "true" facts when the Democrat and Republican politicians supported by their partisan medias each have their own parallel versions of "truth?"
I suggest that the voters are put in an impossible position. Decision making by the voters is reduced to a crap-shoot; to emotion, luck.
To illustrate my point, and not to criticize, I reference two recent opinion pieces that appeared on this page. Consider the two parallel impressions of the president's recent immigration speech to the nation.
Dan Lee: "As I watched President Donald Trump’s address to the nation last Tuesday evening, I was saddened by the spectacle that was unfolding in the Oval Office -- a spectacle that diminished the dignity of the highest office in our nation."
Jay Ambrose: "Donald Trump can look like a president. He can act like a president. He can talk like a president. He proved as much in last Tuesday’s TV speech on getting $5.7 billion for a more secure border...."
Lee: "After Trump stated that 'innocent people' are being 'horribly victimized' by immigrants who commit crimes, [Shepard] Smith [Fox News] observed, “The government’s statistics show that there is less violent crime by the undocumented immigrant population than by the general population.”
Ambrose: "On the trip to America, up to six out of every 10 women are raped, according to Amnesty International. ... Over the past two years ICE officers arrested illegal aliens who had been charged or convicted of assault (100,000), sex crimes (30,000) and violent killings (4,000). A higher percentage of natives than illegal immigrants commit serious crimes, but that hardly means it is not a worry as still more Americans die."
Lee: "(There is a) flow of heroin and other illicit drugs through ports of entry. This is done in various ways. In some cases, heroin and other illicit drugs are hidden in secret compartments in cars going through the checkpoints. In other cases, it is mixed in with legitimate cargo in trucks crossing the border. ... This illicit activity must be stopped. Building a higher wall, however, will have no impact on it."
Ambrose: "(The President said) a whole slew of illegal drugs come across the border, and fact checkers said lots of them came from other places as well. But they did not deny Trump was right in saying that 90 percent of heroin comes across the border, killing 300 a week."
Lee: "An expensive wall will do nothing to stem the flow of heroin and other deadly drugs into this country."
Ambrose: "(Speaker Nancy) Pelosi, is wrong that walls are ineffective. They are highly effective."
So what is the American voter to do when politicians and members of the press have such radically different "expert" opinions? Do hard facts support either opinion?
Opinions aside, here are three examples of hard facts:
1. Israel has security barriers. In 2002, the year before construction was started, 457 Israelis were murdered by terrorists and suicide bombers; in 2009, after construction, only 9.
2. In 2014, the average cost of educating a child in U.S. public schools was $11,155. Therefore, the annual cost of educating 725,000 non-citizen illegal alien children was $8 billion. The cost of educating 3.2 million children born in the U. S. (and therefore, citizens) of illegal alien parents was an additional $35.7 billion.
3. U.S. citizens murdered or killed by illegal aliens include: Pierce Corcoran, Officer Ronil Singh, Justin Lee, Mollie Tibbitts, and most recently, Connie Koontz, Sophia Renken (age 74), Gerald and Sharon David (ages 80 and 81), et. al.
The American people need the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. A decision based on rank opinion and emotions will probably be political and wrong.
So, do we build a wall or not? The American people need honest facts. So, why not listen to the men and women charged with protecting our border?
See my next op-ed.
Posted: QCOline.com February 14, 2019
Copyright 2019, John Donald O'Shea
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